Since the original GP32 was (relatively) popular amung the emulator community, I thought some of you might be interested in the GPX2. Made by the same Korean company that made the original GP32, which means it'll probably be yet another import-only thing... but it looks like a pretty decent little machine. Two ARM9 processors, 32MB RAM / 64MB Flash memory, SD-card slot, 320x240 screen, and an emphasis on multimedia performance. It seems rather open, so porting emulators and such to it should be a snap. Supposedly, they plan to have it priced LOWER than the original GP32 too!

wonder what the likelyhood of it getting released! I wish one of these would have a 20 gig hard drive or something to it, so it might work as an all in one device even more!

just dreaming!

LONG LIVE MAME-pal

> Since the original GP32 was (relatively) popular amung the emulator community, I> thought some of you might be interested in the GPX2. Made by the same Korean> company that made the original GP32, which means it'll probably be yet another> import-only thing... but it looks like a pretty decent little machine. Two ARM9> processors, 32MB RAM / 64MB Flash memory, SD-card slot, 320x240 screen, and an> emphasis on multimedia performance. It seems rather open, so porting emulators> and such to it should be a snap. Supposedly, they plan to have it priced LOWER> than the original GP32 too!> > --Zero>

To bad there is just an analog stick and no regular dpad, which totally takes it out of my list for emulation.

> wonder what the likelyhood of it getting released! I wish one of these would> have a 20 gig hard drive or something to it, so it might work as an all in one> device even more! > > just dreaming! > > LONG LIVE MAME> -pal> > > Since the original GP32 was (relatively) popular amung the emulator community,> I> > thought some of you might be interested in the GPX2. Made by the same Korean> > company that made the original GP32, which means it'll probably be yet another> > import-only thing... but it looks like a pretty decent little machine. Two> ARM9> > processors, 32MB RAM / 64MB Flash memory, SD-card slot, 320x240 screen, and an> > emphasis on multimedia performance. It seems rather open, so porting emulators> > and such to it should be a snap. Supposedly, they plan to have it priced LOWER> > than the original GP32 too!> > > > --Zero> >>

Is that a real analogue stick this time? the GP32 had a stick as well, but it was 8-direction, like on consoles

you get used to that stick quite fast, believe me (and the clicking microswitches are just uberl33t)

clem

> To bad there is just an analog stick and no regular dpad, which totally takes> it out of my list for emulation.> > > wonder what the likelyhood of it getting released! I wish one of these would> > have a 20 gig hard drive or something to it, so it might work as an all in one> > device even more! > > > > just dreaming! > > > > LONG LIVE MAME> > -pal> > > > > Since the original GP32 was (relatively) popular amung the emulator> community,> > I> > > thought some of you might be interested in the GPX2. Made by the same Korean> > > company that made the original GP32, which means it'll probably be yet> another> > > import-only thing... but it looks like a pretty decent little machine. Two> > ARM9> > > processors, 32MB RAM / 64MB Flash memory, SD-card slot, 320x240 screen, and> an> > > emphasis on multimedia performance. It seems rather open, so porting> emulators> > > and such to it should be a snap. Supposedly, they plan to have it priced> LOWER> > > than the original GP32 too!> > > > > > --Zero> > >> >>

I thought I had heard that it was an analog stick, but according to their (somewhat poorly translated) FAQ section, it's digital (Here's a link). I never much cared for analog sticks anyways, and with no 3D acceleration, there isn't much need for one anyways.

Also, it appears that "GPX2" isn't going to be the final name of the machine. They are holding a contest to name the device. Most of the names submitted so far sound terrible in my opinion... maybe they sound better to the Koreans.

> Is that a real analogue stick this time? the GP32 had a stick as well, but it> was 8-direction, like on consoles> > you get used to that stick quite fast, believe me (and the clicking> microswitches are just uberl33t)> > clem> > > To bad there is just an analog stick and no regular dpad, which totally> takes> > it out of my list for emulation.> > > > > wonder what the likelyhood of it getting released! I wish one of these> would> > > have a 20 gig hard drive or something to it, so it might work as an all in> one> > > device even more! > > > > > > just dreaming! > > > > > > LONG LIVE MAME> > > -pal> > > > > > > Since the original GP32 was (relatively) popular amung the emulator> > community,> > > I> > > > thought some of you might be interested in the GPX2. Made by the same> Korean> > > > company that made the original GP32, which means it'll probably be yet> > another> > > > import-only thing... but it looks like a pretty decent little machine. Two> > > ARM9> > > > processors, 32MB RAM / 64MB Flash memory, SD-card slot, 320x240 screen,> and> > an> > > > emphasis on multimedia performance. It seems rather open, so porting> > emulators> > > > and such to it should be a snap. Supposedly, they plan to have it priced> > LOWER> > > > than the original GP32 too!> > > > > > > > --Zero> > > >> > >> >>

Alright, this is a little weird, but upon investigating things further, I found out something interesting. It seems that at some point after releasing the GP32, "Gamepark" split up into two companies: "Gamepark" and "Gamepark Holdings". "Gamepark Holdings" is the company that is designing the GPX2, whereas "Gamepark" is doing it's own thing and designing a seperate handheld called the XGP (eXtreme Game Player)!

If you visit Gamepark's Website, you'll get a popup window with the specs for the XGP, written mostly in Japanese, but enough to make sense: It's based on an ARM920T running at 200MHz, it has some form of hardware 3D acceleration (The GPX2 has no 3D acceleration), a 4" 480x272 TFT LCD screen (like the PSP I guess), 64MB RAM & 64MB Flash memory, WiFi, SD-card slot, TV-Out and USB connectivity as well as MP3/MPEG4 playback. They don't show any pictures of the system or anything like that.

I've heard from a source (who's reliability I can't ensure) that there are currently no plans to make the XGP open source in any way, which can't be good for the emulation scene. It seems very odd to me that the two companies would do this, and could make for a rather messy situation assuming both machines come to market.

So this company wants to go after the Gameboy monopoly. They see that all rival handhels failed the test of time in comparison, and they also have another competitor from Sony. So they release the GP32, for which they probably had a lot of spare parts from manufacturing PDA's for other companies. Commercially they do not so bad (at least to want to invest in a new version), and they found out to be very popular with hobby programmers.

Now in the Big Media world, "hobbyists" tend to be seen as pirates. After all, knowing how the machine works usually comes along with the knowledge to defeat the protection mechanisms. Doesn't matter if serious hobbyists are legit. This is a world where stunt men (who have been screwed over big time in their contracts for decades) do cinema ads on how MP3 file sharing steals the bread from the mouth of their babies.

If you release a "hobbyist" machine, the Big Media companies (the ones with big advertisement dollars from pimping game development studios) won't even look at your thing. But if you release a "Big Media" machine, it has to have all sort of embedded protections to prevent any fiddling with it, in order to give trust to the publishers that their margins of big% per game won't shrink.

So what's a company to do? Easy. Split into two subsidiaries, and have them develop one machine each. If the bet pays off, both with be successful. If only one is successful, it may recoup the losses from the other. Note how one of the machines (GPX) is marketed as a "games" machine, and the other is a "media player" (GPX2). Both can play games, sure, but notice how the "media player" is the open one. I expect to see a lot less of commercial games for that one. And it also explains the cheap price.

Not a bad idea if you ask me, it diversifies the investment risk while keeping focus on new portable technologies.

> So what's a company to do? Easy. Split into two subsidiaries, and have them> develop one machine each. If the bet pays off, both with be successful. If only> one is successful, it may recoup the losses from the other.

Nice concept, however that isn't the case here.

In fact, GPH and GP are now totally seperate companies. They split up due to differences in philosophy. Basically GP still wants to become the Korean Nintendo, while GPH just wants to cater to the emu/homebrew crowd (afterall, that's who ended up actually buying GP32's). IMO, GP has big dreams and probably won't succeed, while GPH is very practical and will carve out a niche for themselves.